Mideast unrest complicates WikiLeaks prosecution

For Justice Department officials considering whether to prosecute WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange, the pro-democracy protests that have swept through the Mideast in recent weeks have made a difficult task even harder.

If Assange is charged criminally, the issue of whether the revelation by Wikileaks of reams of classified diplomatic cables and military reports harmed or helped U.S. national security could end up playing out in a courtroom. In that event, defense lawyers would likely try to argue that far from harming U.S. interests, the disclosures advanced stated American goals of spreading democracy and fostering greater respect for human rights.

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POLITICO 44

“It certainly makes for a decent argument for the defense in the event of a criminal trial,” said Harvey Silverglate, a defense attorney and frequent Justice Department critic. “You’ll never get the government to agree that leaking like this has positive consequences because all governments — all that I’ve ever seen — have an instinctive reaction against leaking, even if you can show it might have helped accomplish a governmental goal.”

As of now, no charges have been filed publicly against Assange or WikiLeaks in connection with their publication of classified U.S. documents. But in December, Attorney General Eric Holder said he had authorized “significant” steps to investigate the releases and “hold people accountable.” Lawmakers from both parties have urged strongly that Assange be prosecuted, though some former Justice Department officials and First Amendment advocates have warned that prosecuting Assange would be a bad move, in part because it could raise questions about prosecuting traditional journalists.

With that debate ongoing in the United States, WikiLeaks has apparently been fueling more intense passions in Africa and across the Middle East. Demonstrators who helped drive Tunisian strongman Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali from power last month were egged on, at least in part, by cables WikiLeaks released detailing American assessments of Ben Ali’s personal wealth and the corruption in Tunisia’s government. “What’s yours is mine,” said one particularly scathing cable. “The excesses of the Ben Ali family are growing,” another warned.

While the self-immolation of a fruit vendor is widely viewed as the triggering event for the protests that led to Ben Ali’s decision to take refuge in Saudi Arabia, the WikiLeaks disclosures also increased anger at the regime.

“How WikiLeaks helped fuel Tunisian revolution” was the headline of one essay posted on CNN.com about the tumult.

The WikiLeaks disclosures seem to have played a less direct role in the Egyptian unrest, though many analysts see the success of the Tunisia protests as having emboldened those in Cairo and elsewhere in Egypt. Cables released by WikiLeaks illustrated the scope of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s cooperation with Israel and his hostility to Hamas.

THERE IS NO CASE HERE AT ALL. ASSANGE DID NOT TAKE ANY CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION FROM ANY US GOVERNMENT AGENCY AND WAS UNDER NO OBLIGATION TO KEEP ANYTHING THAT WAS GIVEN HIM SECRET. IN FACT ASSANGE SHOULD WIN THE NOBLE PEACE PRIZE FOR PUBLISHING THE CRIMINAL ACTIVITY OF THE GOVERNMENTS WORLDWIDE.

In that event, defense lawyers would likely try to argue that far from harming U.S. interests, the disclosures advanced stated American goals of spreading democracy and fostering greater respect for human rights.

ROFL!

Oh! The USA was interested in spreading democracy and fostering greater respect for human rights.

So that's why they keep supporting and propping up dictators and tyrants around the world.

So that is why Huckabee was in Israel, showing his support for Mubarak.

Do Americans really believe their country is interested in spreading democracy?

The Wikileaks-inspired revolutions are inspiring. WikiLeaks documented the duplicity, corruption and rapacious greed of leaders in countries such as Tunisia where a hopeless humiliated young man set himself ablaze, and the people then cremated the regime. In Egypt, Mubarak has amassed a fortune of $60 billion or so while half the country tries to live on $2 dollars a day or less. The protesters demand that he leave along with his VP torturer-in-chief. The constitution, written to perpetuate a military police state, is worthless. It is reminiscent of the old story of a visitor to a farm viewing the pig sty who was astonished to see the farmer’s wife stomp on a dirty piglet drowning it in the muck. She explained that it was easier to get a new one than to clean that one off. Whereas I don’t agree regarding piglets, it’s likely the case regarding the Egyptian constitution. all

Why miss an opportunity for a long drawn out court case that will serve only to distract us from important things like Iraq and Afganistan ? There is nothing else to be gained. Julian Assange is in possession of an unknown amount of information. That makes leadership nervous. But to obscure other probems with an ongoing soap opera of hearings and investigations makes no sense. Not to mention the cost. We should not be bogged down by something government doesn't like. Not to be confused with breaking the law.